I imagine Randy Newman could do a pretty funny song about Utah.
Looks like he did:
Lyrics of "The Beehive State" (which is the state nickname)
"Since you're the delegate from Kansas
Will you kindly take the floor
And tell us what Kansas is thinking
And what is Kansas for?"
"Well Kansas is for the farmer
We stand behind the little man
And we need a firehouse in Topeka
So help us if you can"
"I see the delegate from Utah
Our friendly Beehive State
How can we help you, Utah?
How can we make you great?"
"Well, we got to irrigate our deserts
So we can get some things to grow
And we got to tell this country about Utah
`Cause nobody seems to know
This song plays after every Dodger game win in Dodger Stadium (Lived in LA for 5 years and my wife hasn't missed a game at Dodger Stadium since 1990):
Thanks for listening, Seth. With Gruska, it's that candidness and the relative simplicitly of the arrangements that totally draw me in. It's what makes it completely believable to me, and emotional authenticity is something that ranks high for me in music (and life). Sonically, I really like the choice to use an acoustic piano with the quiet pedal on. You can almost hear the piano hammers. Somehow, this contributes to the humanity of it, combined with his hushed vocal. In a way it reminds me of Satie. Some classical guys are a bit dismissive of Satie, but there is something enduringly beautiful about Gymnopédie, for instance, in its stillness and simplicity, and I hear that sort of thing in this.
Exactly - his arrangements seem simple, but they really have some subtle complexities to them, which probably would draw me in more. His vocal style I'd still probably have to get over though (somehow it turns me off).
So I had a conversation with a dude today. A dude who probably was me in 2011. A dude who said, man, there really just isn't any good music anymore. This dude is about 30. I'm about 33. Statistically, this is when people become close-minded about music and really just have the "aptitude", for a lack of a better word, for getting into new music. It's a normal phenomenon. Most parents hate their kids music and it's just a common thing.
Anyway, due to this site and my persistence (really I have Arcade Fire to thank, even if their album is slightly disappointing), I think I finally was able to say to many people, 2017 actually had some great music, you just have to look for it.
The other hurdle that is new just in the past 15 years or so, is that the myriad of musical options is daunting to the average music listener. It's daunting to me. I thought I was cool for owning 200 CDs and then later 932 albums digitally. Now I have literally 30 MILLION plus albums I could go listen to on Spotify. To not recognize how daunting that is... I mean if I lived 70 years and listened to an hour long album every hour of my life, I'd only scratch a mere 613,200 albums.
All I'm saying is I'm grateful I took the time to dive into 2017 (I think I got to about 150 albums under my belt since October of last year) and find some new music.
I think I'm done with this project for now.
I appreciate all of the suggestions and each of you for showing me great music in 2017.
I was then able to share my findings with 3 or 4 2011 versions of myself. I'll consider that a win, even if small.
Your tribulations with modern music is that you are a rock fan and rock is being phased out.
Since the days of disco baby!!!
Sure that's probably part of it.
I think it's a bit more complex though. My age, the culture shift of "the greatest artist" really not existing anymore, 30 million albums to sort through instead of a radio/record companies/limitation of resources (average person only owned so many records - and nobody had access to 30 million at their fingertips. I also learned from this experience I wasn't giving enough time to newer artists - I'd maybe listen to 10 albums of the year and be pissed at what I "found" as mediocre. Not realizing all my other music I had years to grow on me.
And I do actually like a lot of musical genres beyond rock. As far as the album is concerned, I still think Jazz and Rock corner the market (overal/And Rock isn't the only old music. Electronic music, rap music, pop music, all these genres are much older than people realize. I think saying rock is being phased out is over simplified. They probably said the same thing before the explosion of rock music in 1991... or again in the 2000s after boy bands and divas took over for what seemed like 6 or so years and rock more or less died.
But you are likely right - 30 years from now, it may just be that all forms of "guitar" music are as common as Jazz music today. Having said that Kamasi Washington is a big hit on this site, and there's actually plenty of new jazz music being released today - it's no where near as prevalent as it was from the 20s to the 60s, but it's very much so alive and kicking. So is the classical world. Hundreds of millions, if not billions, is spent on the "Classical" music industry worldwide.
Anyway, I 30-50% agree with the oversimplified solution you are suggesting.
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